


Reassuring Love

by grandmelon



Series: SouRin Summer Fest 2018 [3]
Category: Free!
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Late Night Conversations, Love Confessions, M/M, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 20:52:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15590490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grandmelon/pseuds/grandmelon
Summary: Week/Prompt: 2/See You AgainWatching the stars, seeing the sun rise. Their last day together. A single word barely encompasses all that is felt.





	Reassuring Love

**Author's Note:**

> THE SECOND WEEK IS ALREADY HERE!!! Hope everyone enjoys!!! This is pre-Dive to the Future but post graduation.

It was chilly out, brisk air in his lungs, the stars decorating the sky above. Light growing on the horizon, slow, far away. Fresh dew already lying on all things it could touch, dampening the grass, the trees, all the sand on the beach. A shiver running up his spine as a cold breeze passed, curling into the warmth beside him. The blanket around him was pulled tighter, an arm shifting until it was around him.

 

“Cold?” a soft and deep voice asked him.

 

“Not really,” he replied, smiling as his eyes drew away from the starry sky to stare at the man beside him, illuminated by soft light. The hard angle of his jaw, the soft curve of his lips, the slope of his nose, the eyes which turned to him, fond and questioning. “I wish tonight would never end,” he admitted, a huff of disappointment as he glanced behind them, the ever-growing light on the horizon coming up on them.

 

“You don’t really mean that,” Sousuke said, a laugh in his voice. Rin frowned, knocking his head into Sousuke’s shoulder.

 

“You don’t know that,” he argued. “I, right now I really do wish that tomorrow wouldn’t come.”

 

Sousuke shifted a little, turning more towards him, a hand moving up to tuck his loose hairs behind his ears. “And why’s that?”

 

“Because tomorrow I’ll be in Australia, and you,” Rin whispered, sighing. “I just, I’m going to miss this.”

 

“Me too,” Sousuke hummed, looking back out at the ocean, far in front of them. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you tomorrow?”

 

“No, Gou and mom are going to drop me off, besides,” Rin said, turning away from him for a second, “I don’t want to get emotional in public.”

 

“Would you? Would you cry leaving me?” Sousuke asked, a teasing tone mismatched with the stiffness in his shoulders.

 

“Who wouldn’t cry?” Wriggling in their shared blanket, his hand found Sousuke’s, giving it a squeeze. “Parting with the person you love,” he whispered. A short huff of air escaped Sousuke, and suddenly he was leaning against Rin, already as close as they could be on the wood bench they had taken refuge on.

 

“You’re going to be tired tomorrow,” Sousuke said, changing the subject. Rin smiled for a moment, before sighing, the inevitability of their separation sinking in.

 

“I’m scared.”

 

“Of what?” Sousuke asked. “Going back?”

 

“Of leaving you,” Rin said, intertwining their fingers. “We’ll be continents apart, and we’ll both be busy with our futures, moving forward. What if we can’t do it? What if it’s too much, and we can’t handle it?”

 

There was a pause, a stillness in the air before Sousuke gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “That won’t happen.”

 

“How can you guarantee that this will work?” Rin asked, voice a little more urgent. “How do we know that things won't change? That we won't change?”

 

“We will change,” Sousuke said after a moment. “The things around us, how we feel about each other too. The only guarantee is that change happens. That doesn't need to mean us splitting up.”

 

Blinking away his surprise at such a thought-out answer, Rin looked back up at the stars. The same stars he’d be seeing in Australia, the same stars Sousuke would be seeing here. “What about now? Have your feelings towards me changed?”

 

“I don’t think my feelings towards you will ever stop changing,” Sousuke laughed a little. He let his head fall against Rin’s and Rin stilled, heat coming to his cheeks. “When we first met, you were just this beautiful, but annoying brat I went to school with.”

 

“Hey,” Rin grumbled, knocking his knee against Sousuke’s.

 

“Then you were this inescapable friend, who could riley me up like no one could. Then you were my rival, and my crush. You became my goal, when you left, and my source of strength when I felt alone in Tokyo. Meeting you again, my feelings for you just kept growing, expanding. And I fell in love,” Sousuke said, pausing. Rin’s breath was stolen from him, his ears hot. “And even then, it kept growing. Every day I loved you a little more, and then you kissed me, and everything you did, everything you do just felt so much more after that. Like I couldn’t block out how much you meant to me. It’s overwhelming,” Sousuke said, squeezing Rin’s hand. “It’s like I’m dreaming. It’s terrifying, and it’s thrilling. There’s only one word I know for it but it’s so much more than just that. You’re so much to me, you mean so much. I—I love you, Rin.”

 

The tears sliding down his cheeks were slow, quiet, chilling his skin as the night air hit their wet trails. His breathing came out stuttered, heart filled to the brim with love and adoration for his best friend. They had yet to give their feelings a name, give their relationship a name. It was so much more than all the things he could describe, and here Sousuke was, laying it all out there. Exposing his heart, those nameless feelings. The things they had not dared say aloud, too embarrassed, too unsure. Left in ambiguity, knowing only that their feelings were mutual.

 

His hands went to Sousuke’s cheek, gently guiding his face to his, thumb rubbing against Sousuke’s cheek, as if he was the one with tears streaming down his face. He sat up further, pulling his leg onto the bench, their blanket falling from their shoulders as he kissed Sousuke. Two hands came to his hips, sliding up his back as he pulled the other onto his lap, hugging him, the kiss soft, chaste, but meaning so much it brought more tears to Rin’s eyes. When he pulled back a warm hand came and wiped away his tears. He leaned into it, the stark contrast between the temperatures of the air around them and the heat pulsating in his veins, warming him.

 

“I love you too, Sousuke,” Rin whispered into his palm. Sousuke’s eyes glistened in the dark, the sky behind him framing him in a rosy pink hue. The rising sun painting the sky in purples, blues, pinks. It was easily the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Sitting against him, he felt the blanket being tugged around him, and he helped until they were both covered, hugging each other there in the morning light.

 

He could feel it too, growing inside him, warm and expanding. With those shared feelings, Rin felt a sense of calm run over him. The distance, the time apart, it would mean nothing against the feelings they had instilled in each other. There was no stopping their love.

 

They’d be together again. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr Post](http://melonmachinery.tumblr.com/post/176701950063/reassuring-love-grandmelon-free-archive-of)   
>  [Twitter Post](https://twitter.com/melonmachinery/status/1026518993413304320)


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